Guscott Pot

Goydenman

Well-known member
New pot being being cleared between Goyden and Frog pot.

Dig 1 - Pushed aside river bed material to expose the limestone bed and and edge of the fault then dug down 2m following solid wall on the side of the fault

Dig 2 - Placed scaffold H frame in the entrance and walled up unstable sides

Dig 3 - Removed very large block of limestone blocking the shaft. It is clear this is major fault with now two solid sides and unstable ends

Dig 4 - Opened up hole to view continuation down to 5-6m and what looks like either blocked shaft or possibly narrow passage that goes back under where we are working.

Takes a small stream and cool draft can be felt
We are hoping this helps us discover the cave passages between Frog and Goyden and make that final link.
Will keep you posted
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
Dig 5 - Ralf and I emptied the shaft of the large boulders I had stacked from my last solo session. Still not able yet to get to the continuation of the shaft which we can now see is shaft and not a passage heading back under ourselves. We can also see down between small to medium sized loosely packed bouders for about 2m. That size boulders and no mud should make for easy and quick digging. But before we can do that we need to get rid of an unstable block which may take 1-2 sessions getting rid and making safe.
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
Dig 6 solo trip. Moved the unstable block just 1cm that is perched on top of the leaning slab that blocks the way on. Not only confirmed it is holding up the huge block above it but that hold up the wall all the way to the entrance!! Carefully removed small stones and installed some scaffolding below large block and long one all way to entrance to hold in the wall. Broke up unstable block and stacked it plus other boulders. Started to break apart the leaning slab. Difficult session but good progress. Reckon one more session to remove the rest of the leaning slab and another to make safe the whole area. Then we can dig on down again.
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
Dig 7 - Late start but good progress
Ralf and I were late getting there but soon managed to clear a bit of the rubble that had been washed in to attack the leaning slab. Two goes with the 'special instruments' and it was demolished into chunks that could be stacked for future removal. Then we installed another piece of scaffold to support the large block. After removing a few small boulders in the base of the shaft we were able to look down a small hole, feel a strong cool draft and hear what sounded like a rumbling stream below. There is slight possibility it is the stream sinking on the surface but we both thought the noise sounded like a more significant stream deep below. We urgently need to make a lid for the shaft to prevent it being re-filled with flood debris should water flow past Goyden. We can't wait for thenext trip things are looking good. Andy, Sally and George you will be impressed with progress - text me your next available dates.
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
Dig 8 Ralf and I spent time removing boulders from the previous dig and on shoring work to make the shaft safe. We listened again for the stream and now think it is the small amount of water sinking on the surface. The draught is quite strong and cold. The shaft is a strong fault 0.75m-1m wide and we have yet to find the shale bands to figure out what the downthrow is.The fault is probably the same one the Turf pitch, Goyden is on and also October passage probably joins that fault just beyond it's explored limit. May well be debris in the fault area that is causing the water to be high in October passage.

Dig 9 Solo trip to build an entrance suitable for installing a metal lid. Since there is a scaff pole that sticks up already we have decided to install a metal lid that swings around that just like at Hagg Gill pot. Everything is now ready to dig on down in the shaft again, can't wait  :D
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
After the news of the three counties breakthrough seems low news but here it is anyway.

Dig 10 - Thurs 10th November Breakthrough  ;)
Ralf and I dug the pot from 6m to just short of 8m that required hauling out rocks bigger than a microwave. We were then able to look along the fault (going under the dry river bed) east into what looked like a cavity, but too small to get into. It was the usual time to finish but we could not go to the pub and leave it like that so we dug on and eventually squeezed through an unstable area. Going on from the cavity we explored about a muddy series of passages, I am guessing about 30-40m hard to say. But we will have better information after the trip tomorrow. Watch this space ....if you can pull your thoughts away from the three counties fantastic news.
NOTE: Please do not visit until we have made the unstable area a bit safer and surveyed the place thanks.
 

andychapm

New member
Hi Chris,
I'll come out digging soon, things have been pretty hectic since September!!
Guscott pot sounds interesting, keep up the good work.
Andy
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
Ralf and explored the newly found passages making a rough calculation of lengths using 6ft body lengths! We pushed some passages further and all in all reckon now there is about 100m. Looking like this area is the beginning of the inlets that feed Frog pot North choke which now is probably about 30m away.
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
Further update on the two tubes heading towards Frog pot:
Right hand tube awkward past bend and then opens where small waterfall pours in. The water goes into clean vadose trench which was pushed for 20ft to where the trench then become low bedding and too tight. This water we assume is the water entering Frog pot North choke.
Left tube was pushed to where it turns right and starts to go downhill. Not only is it low but has lots of sticky mud making it hard work reversing back out so as yet not pushed to a conclusion. [Come on Andy give it a go  ;)]. Towards the end we could hear the stream very clearly in the other tube so it could be they join.
We have decided to push towards the tubes from Frog pot next year and hopefully link Guscott pot to Frog pot for now we are concentrating on the stream & choke see below.

Update on stream entering the choked area near the entrance:
The stream that enters the choke close to the entrance was dug for 10ft where it was eventually possible to see under a large hanging block through to a small cavity with the stream sinking in boulders on the far side. We aim to dig under the block  :eek: get into the cavity and dig onwards. We are not sure where this stream goes to probably either Frog pot (most likley) or it may be the stream inlet seen by divers between sump 5 and 6 (possible) or even the inlet entering Bridge Hall after sump 3 which would be exciting but unlikley this is most probably the water coming from October passage. In all cases we are at least 12m too high so need to lose a lot of height soon.
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
The report on opening passages in Gautries, Derbys using the water makes me think that with all this water flowing down the entrance at present I wish it was being used to wash out the long low very muddy crawl - may be then we could push it to a conclusion  :-\
I think we need something big to catch most of the water at the entrance and then big pipes connecting to smaller pipes to increase the pressure at the end to blast away the mud. Fellow Black Sheep Diggers your ideas please and what kits have we got? I can lay my hands on loads of the grey 2"-3" pipe that is already being used on site.
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
Ralf and I made some progress through the choke hard going and a bit scary  :eek: at times but we seem to be heading for larger blocks and so should get safer if not easier. We need short lengths of scaffolding 3-5ft so keep an eye out everyone but ok for couplings. Andy thanks for the pm but more thinking the team could have fun putting our ideas in and figuring out a way to use the water to dig, be fun. Ralf the site I was talking about is www.plastictesttubes.co.uk will see if he also has 10cm ones. Finally about time we bought another dril bit don't you think.
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
Ralf and I had opened up another void in the choke and could see a way though to where the stream sinks by larger blocks maybe even a wall at the far side of this fault. We knew we needed scaffolding in place asap and were about to do it when another boulder started to move in the roof. So I moved back and prodded it to make it fall. We then decided to extract that one before scaffolding as it would be easier to move the poles in place. Ralf started to drill the boulder and then I heard a big rumble and Ralf shouting 'ooooh crap, oh my hand my hand'. The choke had collapsed and a big boulder was on his hand. I rushed in and just as I got to him he managed to release it. Amazingly it was not broken - close call. A rethink was needed and we have decided to dig down from the top of the choke rather than through it. That will be a slower process so don't expect news for quite some time but should be safer!!
 

Roger W

Well-known member
Who was it was asking on another thread for more exciting caving stuff to be posted??

I was thinking we might have been getting another of those self-amputation stories coming up...  but a happy ending this time!

Keep digging, lads - but take care!
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
Ralf and I dug 2m down from the top of the choke and finished up connecting with the previously dugh out 'passage' underneath close to where it had collapsed on Ralf during the last dig. Not bad work for one session and a lot safer - yes we will take care Roger - thanks  (y)
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
Really enjoyable solo dig.
Took 15 scaffold poles (5x 8ft/2x6ft/8x4ft) over to Guscott. Transported them in and then added 6 poles to the scaffold platform in the roof (that looks dodgy) above the shaft to the dig. It is now a good platform and will prevent anything falling on us. Then put two poles in the dig to hold up the choke and had a prod while I was there. Managed to open a hole to view again the void we have seen before. While in the dig I heard a slight rumble so came out quickly  :eek: then I heard water rush from the pipe we put in to carry the small stream down the hole rather than it drench us. The water flowed for a bout 10mins then stopped must have been a shower on the surface. Everthing is ready for us to dig onwards.
 
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